MAP 21 Senate hearing RIGHT NOW

Update: The Senate EPW Committee have unamimously voted to approve MAP-21. It moves to the Senate Floor. League of American Bicyclists says there will be other opportunities to snip the Federal road bike ban language from the bill, and they are organizing effort to get Senate attention on this.

The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is meeting right now to consider S.1813, the Senate Bill to reauthorize Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs. This bill, called “MAP 21,” contains language that will ban cyclists from certain roads that are managed by Federal agencies.

Please contact your Senator right now about the “bicycle safety” provision. While the actual direct impact is likely minimal, a Federal law banning cyclists from any public road sets an example that can be used by officials who may want to ban cycling on local and state roads.

MAP-21 is a compromise bill with bipartisan support crafted after previous highway authorizations failed. Leaders from both major parties have given their blessing to MAP-21. We’ll hear some theatrics as amendments are introduced during the hearing, but they’re mostly for show so us constituents can see our elected officials do listen. Anybody who insists on an amendment vote can expect to incur the wrath of party leadership.

We probably can’t expect major changes in MAP-21, but with lots of effort and input to our elected representatives perhaps we can have that single sentence on page 226 removed? This is important stuff, so please share, tweet, Facebook, Plus, etc.